Super Netball round-up: A 'wishy washy' approach to Pride matches dulls the message

There were zero changes to Super Netball's ladder positions after round eight.

Melbourne Mavericks and the Sunshine Coast Lightning have been locked in a battle for fourth place for the past month. Tied for points and separated by goal percentage, they've taken turns jumping in and out of finals contention. 

But a narrow victory for the Mavericks over the NSW Swifts 62-60 helped them break the deadlock and claim the spot outright.

It must feel nice to have a little extra breathing room this week.

The Lightning haven't beaten the West Coast Fever at home in Sippy Downs since 2019 and that poor record continued with a 58-54 defeat.

Although goal keeper Courtney Bruce was in fine form (nine gains) two black eyes stole the show. This match got us thinking about the physicality of the league and Super Netball's approach to Pride Games.

Elsewhere, the Queensland Firebirds put up a much better fight against the Adelaide Thunderbirds in their second meeting of the season, sticking with them for the first half. Alas, a poor performance in the final 30 minutes meant they succumbed a similar fate by losing by 24 goals, 73-49, compared to 27 goals in round three, 73-46.

And despite still being winless in 2026, the young Giants continue to challenge top teams. In round five they fell to the Thunderbirds 56-54 and on Sunday suffered the same losing margin to the Melbourne Vixens 66-64.

They're not far off the pace. If they can approach each of their remaining matches with the same mindset they may just be able to wriggle up the ladder and avoid the wooden spoon.

If you missed it, don't worry, we'll get you up to speed with our Super Netball round-up.

Pride Games in Super Netball

For the past six seasons, Pride Games celebrating LGBTIQA+ inclusion have taken place in some capacity in Super Netball.

Back in 2021, the Firebirds hosted the very first against the now defunct Collingwood Magpies.

In 2022, the Lightning and Fever joined in. 

By 2023, the competition had introduced Inclusion Round encouraging all clubs to put their own spin on championing diversity.

Some chose to spotlight multiculturalism or people with a disability, but most focused on Pride initiatives.

Inclusion Round ran for two seasons before being abandoned for 2025.

Although the right motivations were there the message did start to feel watered-down and non-committal. The catch-all approach made it hard to follow and less powerful.

This weekend gone, the Lightning held its annual Pride Game with the Fever. The rainbow bibs on the player dresses and Progress Pride Flag hanging in the stadium were a dead giveaway but it went unmentioned on the host broadcast until the third quarter.

There were no interviews about its importance in the pre-game and little fanfare on social media about it happening in the lead up. Blink and you might have missed it.

Now, as it was back in 2021 when Collingwood led the way, it's been up to the clubs to execute any Pride Games. Unlike the AFL who have one dedicated weekend where guidelines are given by the league and everybody is on board.

In round eight the Mavericks held their annual Orange Game which raises awareness and support for victims and survivors of family and domestic violence. The Vixens and Thunderbirds held Play 4 Pink matches in the fight against breast cancer.

Was this an unofficial Inclusion Round, we wondered? Nope. Pure coincidence.

In fact, most clubs have plans to stage a Pride Game this season. But all at different times.

The NSW Swifts host theirs in round nine. The Queensland Firebirds will host one in round 10 ahead of IDAHOBIT. The Vixens and Mavericks will host theirs in round 14 right before the finals.

That means the Lightning, Firebirds and Fever will end up featuring in two Pride themed matches each. The Thunderbirds are the only team that won't feature in any.

Former Super Netballer Liv Lewis identifies as a member of the LGBTIQA+ community and says the fact there is currently just one openly out athlete across the league's pool of 88 players suggests it should consider implementing a proper Pride Round.

The defender who played for the Fever, Vixens and Mavericks during the course of her career decided to make a cross-code switch at the end of last season to AFLW.

"It is a bit wishy washy, I feel like the league's approach to those rounds is almost like they're afraid of any backlash so they take a step back and leave it up to the clubs," Lewis said.

"We had the Inclusion Rounds while I was playing but it was very much up to the interpretation of each club, the league didn't want to get on board with any community specifically.

"When you compare it to any other elite women's competition in the country, netball is the most under-represented sport for the LGBTIQA+ community, so I would have thought that was a red flag and maybe more of an incentive to champion a full Pride Round.

"In the NRLW, AFLW and WNBL the numbers are starkly different. There are a plethora of reasons for that, but it does highlight to me how important a Pride Round would be in giving that visibility where it is not currently."

As a player coming through the ranks Lewis was inspired by greats like Ash Brazill and Stacey Francis-Bayman, openly gay women playing at the top level of the sport.

"There's so many noble causes that deserve attention but if you do all of them at once the impact it can feel diluted — the messaging isn't as potent," Lewis said.

"It's a hard one, because it's not about one community being more important than the other.

"I think it's fantastic that First Nations Round has become such a clear fixture for quite a few seasons now. It's even split across two weekends so there is the space for themed rounds that focus in on certain communities, but I'd love to see the league buy-in a bit more.

"I was really proud to be a part of the Mavericks last year as the first Super Netball side to actually wear a Pride dress, pretty much every team had just done bibs up to that point.

"But it blows my mind that in 10 seasons that is the only time a team has done that.

"Super Netball seems to be behind the eight ball."

Entertainment vs safety

A few weeks ago we touched on the growing physicality of the game and how a balance needs to be found between entertainment and safety.

A question is where that line is and how much responsibility lies with the umpires when it comes to defining those parameters, including our concerns about the landing space being taken out from under players.

As the rounds have gone on there have been higher penalty counts, plenty of players hitting the deck and coaches voicing their thoughts about player welfare — especially with so many injuries hampering teams across the league.

An interview Mavericks coach Gerard Murphy gave to Fox Netball added another element where he shared his interesting way of assessing his team's penalty count and its effectiveness based on its ratio to gains.

What that system doesn't take into account is the types of contact. Is it late, is it dangerous, or is it a fair contest and just standard play?

In the first quarter of the Lightning and Fever match, goal attack Cara Koenen copped an elbow to the face. Her left eye bruised quickly.

At some point her direct opponent, goal defence Fran Williams, was also hit in the face and her right eye began to swell.

Both players were spotted icing their faces in the breaks.

Although these incidents were clearly accidental we need to be careful we don't go down the path of glorifying these types of injuries.

There were a whopping 120 penalties in this game (Lightning 74, Fever 46). In the Vixens and Giants match that followed there were 149 (Vixens 71, Giants 78).

Maybe its time the league considered a crackdown on dangerous play?